Nitrogen-enabled high growth rates in hydride vapor phase epitaxy

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and devices that use a low-thermal conductivity inert gas to shield reactant gases and thus enabling a cold wall operation within a hot wall system.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method for growing at least one layer of a semiconductor device using a reactor comprising at least one source zone and at least one deposition zone wherein the method comprises hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) using at least one group III metal, at least one group V hydride gas, and an inert carrier gas;
 wherein the growth rate of the at least one layer of a semiconductor device is improved by up to 32 percent when compared to using H 2  as a carrier gas in the reactor instead of the inert gas. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one source zone is at a temperature of up to about 800° C., and wherein the at least one deposition zone is at a temperature of up to about 700° C. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one layer of the semiconductor device is GaAs. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3  wherein the GaAs growth rate is up to 528 μm/h. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1  wherein a volumetric flow rate of the inert carrier gas and group V hydride gas is up to 5000 sccm. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1  wherein a volumetric flow rate for the group V hydride gas is up to 100 sccm. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1  wherein a partial pressure for the group V hydride gas within the inert carrier gas is up to 0.01 atm. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 3  wherein a surface roughness of the GaAs layer is below 0.8 nm. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 3  wherein an electron mobility of the GaAs layer is up to 1600 cm 2 /V-s. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 3  wherein an electron concentration of the GaAs layer is up to 9.9×10 18  cm −3 . 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the inert carrier gas comprises N 2  or Ar.